Website Review and Suggestions

**Xtrato** · 11-11-2006, 04:45 PM

Hi Guys, new guy on the block here. Just want to post my site and get it reviewed along with the forums.

well here goes nothing, this is Version 3 Of my site was created about 3-4 months ago, and well its a nice white - with green highlighs.

The primary site can be located here: www.xtrato.com

And the primary Design is Here : www.xtrato.com/v3/

let me know what you guys think. Thanks for Viewing!!.

**letsjoy** · 11-11-2006, 04:59 PM

nice work on graphics i like it..

**Mooofasa** · 11-11-2006, 07:47 PM

May I ask what your business' focus is?

**Xtrato** · 11-11-2006, 11:23 PM

primarely , Web Design and Development. Searching for Coders

.

**+Bigwebmaster+** · 11-11-2006, 11:50 PM

feel free to go to http://www.everyoneszone.com/modules.php?name=Web_Links and add your link. please note that you will have to register first.
if you want a website review go to http://www.everyoneszone.com/modules...=viewforum&f=8

**Mooofasa** · 11-12-2006, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by +Bigwebmaster+

feel free to go to http://www.everyoneszone.com/modules.php?name=Web_Links and add your link. please note that you will have to register first.
if you want a website review go to http://www.everyoneszone.com/modules...=viewforum&f=8

Bigmaster, he has come here for a review. He shouldn't have to then move onto your own individual site to do the same thing. Remember, this is a Website Reviews & Suggestions forum, not a link referral system.

Threadstarter:
If your business focus is Web Design, Development and Coder Recruitment then make your site fit that model. At the moment, all I see (v3) is a phpNuke theme for a designers portal/tutorial site. I don't see any screenshots of any designs, developments or headed section saying anything about any new coders.

You have a million and one parts to your business, or rather website. Many designers/developers/recruiters have two websites.

The first website is their blog. This is a testament to their design and development ingenuity. It is also the main hive of their accomplishments and teachings. They provide useful and usable information in a relaxed environment. At the same time they balance many features with harmony.

At current, your site, just says phpNuke theme. You don't have any emphasis on content, the layout is rather backwards for a design/development business and the content really doesn't do anything for the reader.

Although your design is very techy and shows off your 3D creative skill, it's the kind of design that good employers are looking for. There is a big push for 2D illustrator, Web 2.0 (I disagree with it's name, but it is in the industry) and the three parts to standards: accessibility, usability and functionality. Firstly, your site fails miserably with the accessibility. When switched to No Styles view (Firefox) it renders awfully, and doesn't do much in the way of presenting the information in an accessible way to non-graphical browsers. This is mainly due to the table layout. Even in phpNuke, you can remove tables. It takes a while, but it seperates you from the other phpNuke designers/developers.

Usability; yes you have polls, funky flash menus and several little features. But what about the smaller, more achievable and browser-friendly elements? Simple CSS tricks (not hacks) can improve usability significantly. You may have two menus; the flash and the sidebar. But what is the point? They all point to the same places, so really you have wasted your time, especially as they are in the small area as each other.

Functionaliy - when you fail on accessibility, you can bet you'll fail on functionality. This is basically does it render clearly and communicatively through cross-browsers, types and various machine differences.

Designers/developers also very often have a second site, which is where they get a lot of their business from and can make it more formal than their blog site. In your case, this setup would be ideal, as you can still provide your visitors with information, tutorials, and news whilst providing quality design/development and coder recruitment services. Because you have two sites inter-conected, you're more likely to get more custom because there is more of you out there.

If it has seemed as though I am having a go at you then I apologise. I've focused mainly on your business aspect as I think your design skills are fine. You need to learn the course of CSS/Div positioning, etc, but there's no point until you stay firm to your original business focus.

**Raider** · 11-12-2006, 10:25 AM

I think it looks pretty good! Hope you have good luck with it.

**Xtrato** · 11-12-2006, 01:41 PM

Thanks guys for your complements!!

Mooofasa , yes, i agree with you, i've been looking to re-design the whole site in general, from front page to anew site.

webdesignmedia.org, or .net , I plan to use those for portfolio , etc.

Its a phpnuke mainly community, however it runs on vBulletin.

I tried hard to achieve ease of functionality, but overtime i realized i didnt do quite a good job with it, it doesnt seem to have what it takes, i like it buti think it can be done better, and yes, flash is good, but i plan to implement some javascript for navigation and what not. I think that would be most adequate.

Thanks again for your advice and tips, i'll sure consider them on my next Version of the site.

Thanks!

**EGS** · 11-12-2006, 08:28 PM

I think the flash is too much. With designs, flash is the last thing that comes to my mind. I really like simplicity or overall smooth designs, like yaXay.com.

**amygdela** · 11-12-2006, 09:27 PM

I think the design looks a bit 2004. Those type of designs where hot then, but not anymore. Time for clean and fresh, not flashy metally looks. And this is very bad spelling error:

**RonnieTheDodger** · 10:27 PM

I am with Mooofasa .. what is your primary goal? If it is primarily for attracting coders, or design & development professionials .. then you are missing the mark.

Going with the phpNuke style frontpage will not get your desired result.

Whether it is phpNuke or vBulletin ... they should be your forum backend. Your frontend should be for your presentation.

I have seen too many people use forums as an entry point.

Redesign the homepage to announce your presence. If you want coders, then say so. If you want web designers, then say so. Drop the nuke style of block formatting on this page ... and just come out and say what you mean.

BTW .... seeing the page with a PayPal icon on the right makes it worse.

**amyangel** · 04:31 PM

Nice logo, nice image,good content!
<please create a signature>

**Mooofasa** · 11-13-2006, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xtrato

webdesignmedia.org, or .net , I plan to use those for portfolio , etc.

I wouldn't necessarily go for that domain. It's too vague, and many clients prefer their clients to have something that is catchy, fun, creative and imaginative - not necessarily a word from the dictionary, it could be made up. Alternatively, use your first/middle/last name and add design to it. That's always a catch and adds an artist's signature to it.

I very much doubt you should be using Javascript for a menu. Those days have long gone, well with the design communities and people's interest anyway. Any menu produced in Javascript can be basically done using CSS and HTML. All you need to do is read up on sites like A List Apart and Listamatic.

If you can, try to reduce the number of images, or try to optimise their use as much as possible without loosing quality. Try out PNG, JPEG and GIF 100% dither with different objects in your graphics editor, see what the qualities are and the file sizes, go for the better quality, or if the next best one is considerably smaller in file size, go for it.

At this point in the success of your business, I would start it off simple. Ditch the community, links to tutorials, the polls, etc and just start off small. Starting posting information, your thoughts, tutorials, interesting and inspirational links. Build a relationship with your visitors before you try and take on the heavy task of managing several things at once.

As you get more and more visitors commenting on your posts, start thinking about adding little things that make your site more interactive. A single poll every month, which is actually worth taking (things that are quantitive that can be useful for you developing your business), avoid any personal what do you think of this film type of questions - they don't do your business any favours.

When you've successfully built up some interaction, then move onto the community forums. If you see several people making regular comments on your posts, you're more likely to have a better base for your community to grow on.

Make the community a part of your site, inter-connect the two. This includes the design, database bridges, etc. to make usability and functionality better.

Just remember to keep giving information, posts, etc or you might find you'll loose the base.

As for your portfolio site, I suggest you have say the latest 3 works on your homepage, each with an excerpt of the main brief of each work. It summarises information and is more useful to clients - they can pick out relevant works and get a better idea if your suited for the job.

I apologise if I seem to be telling you how to run your business, but I was ready for starting web design career (well, studio at one point) and built up all this information. I've recently re-thought my future and decided against it. I'd hate to see my knowledge be for nothing.

**Xtrato** · 11-13-2006, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonnieTheDodger

I have seen too many people use forums as an entry point.

Redesign the homepage to announce your presence. If you want coders, then say so. If you want web designers, then say so. Drop the nuke style of block formatting on this page ... and just come out and say what you mean.

Thanks for this imput, i was def looking forward in doing something like so.

I will re-design my front page to be more presentable and what not.

Thanks for the big imput there.

Mooofasa ----

Big thanks for your thoughs and knowledge.

I will take all that info and sure put it to use. Good to know people still have good share of thoughs, not just its nice post lol.

as i stated before, i will create a new front page, and present it to you guys, then i can get some more imput, this has definetelly helped me out deciding what to go for.

Thanks again! and I'll be Developing a new site

.

Cheers to you guys!

**jingquan** · 11-14-2006, 12:10 AM

Just one suggestion: The navigation menu seems out of place, try relocating it. Great artwork.

**Xtrato** · 11-14-2006, 02:51 AM

which navigation.. The front page or the primary forums?

Thanks